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Help Needed: How To Save Videos From Websites?
- Thread starter BeautifulWoman_1984
- Start date
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People have given you advice but you seem very reluctant to act on the advice and just keep asking the same questions over and over again. I cannot vouch for mac computers but for windows I can and that is IDM (already given you link in my post). Over the years I have tried an different number of video downloaders and found that IDM is the best which is why I never mention any other video downloader because IDM does everything I need and yes I have download multiple videos from numerous websites over the years.
If you are after something specific that will only work on certain devices and computers, you need to make it very very clear what computers and other devices you want to run a video downloader on.
Thank you for your reply!
I've tried a bunch of different options and I'm still looking.
I just came across this and it looks good because it has so many reviews but I don't know if these reviews are genuine or not because they're hosted by the same company that's selling the App...: https://www.hitpaw.com/reviews/hitpaw-video-converter/
From what i can see of that site, they only provide video editors and enhancing tools, not video downloaders.
edit: my bad, just looked deeper and i see the video editor has a video loader function as well.
edit 2: I see they do a mac version as well. As they appear to offer a free trial all I can suggest is that you try it out on the website you want to download videos from and see if it works.
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Took your advice and purchased the app, only problem it is for Windows only, although web site says it works with Safari!
I have no idea if IDM works on macs. All i know is that it works on windows and it works very well on windows. I am currently using Win 10 and therefore have no idea how or if it works on Win 11.
I've mentioned IDM in my posts because if you look through the OP's post's she's mentioned about wanting to use a video downloader on either a windows PC or a mac PC. As I've used a video downloader extensively on windows, that's why i recommended a windows version.
Edit: just did some further checking, I think you will find the reason it says that it works on Safari is because you can get a windows version of Safari but if you check the operating system it supports, it's only supported in Windows and not mac.
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Thank you for your reply!
I'm looking at these reviews now. This may be the best option in March 2023?
4K Download is rated "Great" with 4.1 / 5 on Trustpilot
Do you agree with 4K Download's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 1,688 customers have already said.
www.trustpilot.com
Without knowing the -exact- website you want to pull the video from, we cannot offer you full advice. In my experience video grabbers are very sketchy/iffy software, even the paid ones, the only ones that work perfectly only pull from massive sites such as Youtube or Vimeo. Any other website one grabber might be able to download it while 20 others wont. Youtube/Vimeo any downloader will work, google "download youtube video" and theres 5 websites you can paste the link in, other websites it start to get hairy. Video Grabbing extensions you add to a browser also have a nasty history of abuse because the permissions you have to grant them, so if you do use one and log in to an a account, change the password even if it cant download the video/and especially if it does.Thank you for your reply!
I'm looking at these reviews now. This may be the best option in March 2023?
4K Download is rated "Great" with 4.1 / 5 on Trustpilot
Do you agree with 4K Download's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 1,688 customers have already said.
The only method that won't fail in any situation is a proper screen recording software. It'll cost about the same, but take up much more time (as you'd have to let the computer view the entire video in full quality to get it). But it's the only sure method.
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If it is that good, they should make a Mac version, this an Apple forum and when some one recommends a software product we assume it is for a Mac, if not, then it should be noted the it is for Windows only. IDM lists Safari as a compatible browser, how many Windows user use Safari??
No, the recommendations were based on questions the OP was asking in here which were recommendations for a video downloader that would work initially for a mac but also for windows as well just in case. As for the IDM website, many people use obscure browsers for windows. The company is obviously covering all bases as to the browsers it works on.
I've used Downie for several years now, with no hassles or problems. It is well worth the purchase price; it's well designed, usually really easy to use, and, most importantly, the developer updates it regularly and responds quickly to user questions.
No big deal, company graciously canceled the purchase before been processed. Sent them an email thanking them.
I purchased 4K Video Downlaoder - for maybe US$15 - and I really like it.
It seems to work on most websites.
It seems to work on most websites.
Thank you for your replies!
I feel like this is a topic that would be of great help to many in the MacRumors community.
I feel like this is a topic that would be of great help to many in the MacRumors community.
It's so difficult to choose because there are so many options... 
I'm currently reviewing this again because it's free, open source and runs on many platforms!
jdownloader.org
The only problem is that it hasn't been updated since 2021... This seems like a huge red flag to me. Is this something I should be worried about? 2 years is a long time!
I'm currently reviewing this again because it's free, open source and runs on many platforms!
JDownloader.org - Official Homepage
The only problem is that it hasn't been updated since 2021... This seems like a huge red flag to me. Is this something I should be worried about? 2 years is a long time!
Yes because websites constantly evolve and thus whereas downloader may have once worked, changes to a website means the downloader no longer works because the developers of the downloader have not kept up to date with latest changes in website design and programming.It's so difficult to choose because there are so many options...
I'm currently reviewing this again because it's free, open source and runs on many platforms!
JDownloader.org - Official Homepage
The only problem is that it hasn't been updated since 2021... This seems like a huge red flag to me. Is this something I should be worried about? 2 years is a long time!
You are right to see it as a red flag. I would not use it even if it is free.
Thank you for your reply.
Sorry, I just double checked the date of the most recent update and I completely misread the date. It was updated very recently: 21st April 2023. 😯 Sorry! 😯😯
Link: https://support.jdownloader.org/Knowledgebase/Article/View/updates-update-behavior
Just tried it and it is a bit cumbersome to use. Tried it on youtube and archive.org and it downloaded videos from both those sites but tried on some streaming sites and it did not work (not well known sites). For the youtube download, i picked a music video and here is the problem, the music video had multiple quality levels, ranging from 420p up to 2k and the downloader picked up ALL the levels so if you only wanted one of the quality levels, you would have to keep on deleting all the ones you did not want. As nearly all videos have different quality levels now that users can chose from, it will be a laborious task to keep on deleting the quality levels you did not want from the list within the downloader.
For a free downloader it does it's job but i can see it has it's faults and for me the main one is that it does not work on all the websites I want it to work on.
Thank you for your reply.
I feel terrible for being so wrong about JDownloader being unsupported because they released another update a few days ago:
JDownloader.org - Official Homepage
The community is huge as well!
zoran -
RE you post 70 above this one.
Try "ClipGrab".
It's free.
RE you post 70 above this one.
Try "ClipGrab".
It's free.
You've got to be kidding. You alone are going to download all the world's video content and keep it forever? Even if you only wanted to preserve 0.1% of the world's video you'd have an impossible task. Even if 100 people worked 24x7 it would be an impossible task.
"The Filter of Time" is not a bad thing. It means the junk and clutter of dogs riding skateboards and such vanishes and the good stuff gets replicated onto different services.
This is why we think the "old music" was better. The crap is mostly forgotten and only the best tends to be remembered and saved.
Thank you for your reply!
I've been researching Clipgrab and I'm a bit worried about the Windows version being free, but not open source? What's to stop the Clipgrab developer from installing malicious code when I install Clipgrab?
Sorry, I wasn't clear in my first post.
I have no intention of downloading every video I watch. I only want to save videos that I really enjoy and that I think are of a high quality.
For example, I come across an awesome music video that a fan has put together and uploaded to a website. I keep going back to the website to watch the music video every day for multiple weeks, but then the music video is deleted by the website and I'm no longer able to watch it.
I just came across this Firefox extension and it looks brilliant.
its just an extension so there’s no concern of installing a malicious app.
addons.mozilla.org
its just an extension so there’s no concern of installing a malicious app.
Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
Download Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express for Firefox. A simple extension for superfast and easy YouTube downloads in FLV, 3GP, MP3, MP4, 720p, and 1080p formats.
It's good if you only want to use youtube. Remember that a few of the other downloaders mentioned are universal and work across multiple websites that have videos on them.I just came across this Firefox extension and it looks brilliant.
its just an extension so there’s no concern of installing a malicious app.
Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
Download Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express for Firefox. A simple extension for superfast and easy YouTube downloads in FLV, 3GP, MP3, MP4, 720p, and 1080p formats.